When it comes to timing stock-market reversals, there is generally no stone investors will leave unturned. And, given all the celestial activity that has been occurring lately (think of the meteoric explosion over Russia) it can't hurt to take a look at one of the quirkier market timing correlations—sunspot activity.

The attention of those who question the validity of the model should be directed to a recent note in Universal Economics, a regular missive published by money manager Paul Macrae Montgomery. According to Montgomery, there is "a huge volume of research which confirms that solar activity, as measured by sunspot frequency, is significantly correlated with various forms of human activity," he told Barron's. Among them: marriage rates, women's fashions, and, yes, market prices of common stocks.

Caution: Solar activity has typically been correlated with all forms of human behavior—including buying stocks.
Wlliam Waitzman for Barron's

Indeed, "few conventional stock-market models have outperformed sunspots over the last two decades," writes Montgomery, who also invented the magazine cover index, which holds that bold declarations of economic or market trends on magazine covers are the perfect contrary indicators.

Typically, the greater the solar activity, as measured by sunspots, the better it is for market prices. Indeed, using the sunspot activity and other, more traditional data, Montgomery was able to avoid big market downturns in 2000 and 2002, and started buying right after the 2009 bottom.

So what is the sun saying now? The scientific consensus is that sunspots should top between May and September. But Montgomery won't exit the market unless other data confirm the sunspot moves.

President Barack Obama addresses a gathering of the nation's governors.

Secretary of State John Kerry starts a European tour in London.

Tuesday 26

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke begins two days of testimony before Congress on monetary policy and the economy. "Expect the chairman to walk back any perceived hawkishness" from the minutes, says RBC Capital Markets.